more reasons not to watch the news

If you've seen Bowling for Columbine or read Conversations with God, you know how the local news, cop shows, and other violent programs feed into the culture of fear in America. Well, here's one more reason why too much news is bad for you. I'm currently reading this book called Your First Year in Network Marketing by Mark and Rene Yarnell, and there's a chapter on how to avoid depression and be optimistic about the future. This is an interesting anecdote:

We are convinced that the old adage originally aimed at computers can also be applied to people: "Garbage in, garbage out." Because of our backgrounds in theology, both of us have participated in extensive counseling. Often we found that depression was the result of the garbage people allowed into their brains. One man, who showed up for marital counseling explained how he'd lost the fire in his relationship. In fact, his whole life was becoming increasingly more depressing. As is so often the case, as Mark recalls the incident, a brief evaluation of this man's daily activities told the tale.

"Philip was a forty-year-old computer analyst for a major technology firm who explained his days as nothing out of the ordinary. 'I get up each morning and sit at the breakfast table reading the newspaper. Because I'm in a car pool, I either pick up my two friends, or they me, for the forty-five minute commute.’

“I stopped him with a leading question: ‘Once you’re in the car, what do you talk about?’ I wondered for an important reason.

‘Oh, you know, the usual small talk,’ he replied. ‘But we really only spend a few minutes talking; then we flip on the radio because one news station gives traffic reports every ten minutes which helps us strategize our commute. If there’s a serious traffic problem ahead, we avoid it. And besides, during that time, those who aren’t driving normally have business files to examine.’

“It was just as I expected. Philip then proceeded to detail his mundane day. He and his co-workers had permission to listen to the radio at work. ‘That breaks some of the monotony,’ Philip explained. When he got home from work, he first read the paper while sipping a glass of wine. He had dinner with his two kids and wife, during which they discussed their days. He spent less than two hours with any paperwork he brought home; then he and his wife curled up in bed in time to see and A&E program entitled Law and Order followed by the 10:00 news. He again emphasized that he led a reasonably good life, but nothing extraordinary.

“At the end of forty-five minutes of reflective listening, I recommended that Philip go six months without reading one newspaper, watching one television show about crime or newscasts of any kind, and no radio news at all. Six months without news! Following two more counseling sessions in which routine marriage counseling techniques were employed, Philip and Nancy never returned. We bumped into them two years later at a conference and both beamed. Their marriage had taken a positive turn and Philip thanked me profusely. He made a point of mentioning that he really didn’t know for certain what changed, but something had surely improved his life. ‘By the way,’ he said as he turned to walk away, ‘except for the weekend edition of USA Today, I don’t mess with the news anymore. Not that that has helped a great deal.’”

Wrong, Phil. The entire marriage turn-around could probably be traced right back to the elimination of those meaningless newscasts. If you are troubled by depression, read this next sentence three times: “No More News!” If Martians land anywhere in the world, you’ll hear about it within fifteen minutes from someone in your circle of friends. If a princess dies, you’ll hear about it even if you’re on a boat in the Caribbean. We did.

And it goes on, but you get the idea. The last paragraph is quite true. I've actively avoided watching the news for a year and a half now, and it's really quite difficult to miss anything important that happens. (The night the US troops broke into Baghdad, I was at a home-hostel in Canterbury, and our hostess made us watch the news in her living room.) The way I see it, information is like mind-food. Just as what you eat affects your body's health, what you read/watch/hear affects your mind's health.